This invention relates to a process for the production of dried pastas which can rapidly be reconstituted for consumption.
It is known that dried pastas for rapid reconstitution can be produced by extrusion of a ground mixture of cereal and water having a dry matter content of 70% by weight, precooking of the extruded mixture in boiling water until precooked pastas having a dry matter content of 30% are obtained and then drying the precooked pastas to a dry matter content of approximately 90%. The pastas obtained can be rapidly reconstituted by addition of water and heating for 3 to 8 minutes in a microwave oven.
When a process such as this is carried out on an industrial scale, two potentially dissuasive problems can arise. First of all, a relatively large amount of energy is required for drying the precooked pastas having a dry matter content of 30% to a dry matter content of 90%. On the other hand, the losses of starting material involved in precooking with boiling water are high, namely of the order of 10 to 12% by weight.